Q: Ibook g4 running VERY slow

It depends on how technically competent you are and how much you want to spend on it.

You could add a bigger, faster hard drive and more RAM to the iBook, but, in my experience, your money would be better spent toward buying a MacBook.

You would see a huge speed increase if you would upgrade to an Intel-based Mac (such as a MacBook, particularly the Core2 Duo models at a minimum; I've never owned a MacBook earlier than the Core2 Duo models).

When buying a used Mac, always buy one that includes the original system software discs that came with it when it was new. Not as critical, but I have always looked for one which also includes any OS upgrade disc(s) which have been installed on the Mac. Used MacBooks are not selling quite as cheaply as iBooks, but they are SO big an improvement. Unless you need to access Mac OS 9 through the Classic environment on the iBook, I strongly recommend going up to an Intel Mac.

Whatever you decide, good luck.

I am SO sorry.

If it's any consolation, my son started using Windows when he was about 14 or 15 because that was what all his friends were gaming on, and he wanted to game along with them. Windows isn't all bad. I just much prefer the Mac OS.

Time seems to go very slowly when you're young, but time goes by a lot faster than you'd think. Some day you'll be making your own money and you can buy whatever you want.

Do you live close to an Apple Store? Maybe you could get your mom to try out a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro and she would see why you want a Mac?

Stevejobs rip wrote:

 

well thanks i think the cpu is broke and im very sad i have to send it back to ebay and my mom wont let me get another ibook or any apple laptop which *****.

The CPU is not broke (it would not run at all if that were true) do you have the disks for the iBook?

Like CSound says, all may not be lost . . .

So it's SLOW but it works, right?

If you have the disks, like CSound asked, you can do Disk Repair.

You could run Repair Permissions.

You could open up Activity Monitor to see what's hogging the CPU.

There are all kinds of things we can help you with . . .

We also need to know how much space is left on your Hard Drive.

So don't give up, let us help you get through the troubleshooting steps, OK?

You really have 1 GB of RAM in there?????

Exactly, and it would be fun to return an iBook to glory

Ah, yes, CS --

I have come pretty close, myself!

Hi..

My iBook g4 I just got runs very slow it takes a long time to boot up,

Not enough free space on the startup disk can slow the system down.

Right or control click the MacintoshHD icon on your Desktop.

Click Get Info. In the Get Info window you will see Capacity and Available.

Make sure there's not less than 15% free space available.

Freeing Up Hard Disk Space - Mac GuidesFreeing Up Hard Disk Space - Mac Guides

And delete any items in System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items

I AM RUNNING LEOPARD 10.56

If there's enough free space on the startup disk, you can update your system software to v10.5.8. Click the Apple menu icon top left in your screen. From the drop down menu click Software Update. That should also update Safari for you. The highest version you can run for Safari is 5.0.6 on v10.5.8.

Mac maintenance Quick Assist

I have an iBookG4 that still runs like a top!

Macintosh HD > Utilities > Activity Monitor

Go ahead and download the update of Mac OS X 10.5.8 and install it, and see if that helps.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL866?viewlocale=en_US

It's easy to add memory (RAM), and it's not too expensive.

Is it the 1.33 GHz 12-inch model or the 1.33 GHz 14-inch model?

Try starting up in Safe Mode. This will take quite awhile longer than a normal startup because it does a file check and repair of the hard drive.

You will see your normal desktop. Once completely started up in Safe Mode, restart normally, and go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility. Select the named boot volume in the left sidebar ("Macintosh HD" unless it has been renamed). Repair permissions on it.

See if a little hard drive maintenance speed things up a bit.